Rack

ABSTRACT

A pallet rack in which the upright members have slots to receive tongues of a shelf beam connecter, and the shelf beam connecter embraces the upright by its sidewall and by integral offset fingers; the tongues are held against disengagement by pivotable latches which are engageable and disengageable from the tongues.

United States Patent Frazier Feb. 15, 1972 RACK 3,292,888 12/1966Fischer ..248/228 X [72] Inventor: Donald Frazier, R.D.#1, Mendham Road,gggggg 9/1969 "211/176 Far Hills NJ. 07931 1 H1970 Frazier ..21l/1763,510,010 5/1970 Gasner ..2l U176 [22] Filed: Mar. 27, 1970 211 Appl.No.: 23,383

[52] US. Cl 211/176, 108/56 [51] Int. Cl. ..A47f 5/10 [58] FieldofSearch "211/177, 176, 184; 248/228; 108/51, 54, 56

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,278,043 10/1966 Kimpton..21l/176 X Primary Examiner-Nile C. Byers, Jr. AttorneyPopper, Bains,Bobis & Gilfillan [57] ABSTRACT A pallet rack in which the uprightmembers have slots to receive tongues of a shelf beam connecter, and theshelf beam connecter embraces the upright by its sidewall and byintegral offset fingers; the tongues are held against disengagement bypivotable latches which are engageable and disengageable from thetongues.

13 Claims, 15 Drawing Figures l 1 I ll 8 24 PATENTEBFEB 1 5 2 SHEET 1 OF3 33 I I I a g I u FIG. I u [go 2|/ \1 24 I N VE OR DONALD FR ERATTORNEY PATENTEBFEB15 I972 SHEET 2 3 FIG. 4

FIG. 8

mvE DONALD FRAZER 811% B ATTORNEY PATENTEBFfH 15 I972 3. 642. 146

SHEET 3 OF 3 INVENTOR. DONALD F RAZIER P W EA m- RACK Field oflnventionThis invention relates generally to pallet racks, and particularly topallet racks in which shelf beams are easily adjustable, and the loaddoes not tend to deform the rack.

Prior Art Pallet racks are in wide use in industry for receiving andholding pallets upon which bulky and heavy materials are held instorage. The shelf beams are frequently bolted in place and must beunbolted in order to change position. Height adjustments are cumbersome,time consuming, and require the application of tools in order to lockthe shelves in place, or to unlock them in order to adjust them. Manyshelf beam connecters for racks have downwardly extending, deflectedfingers, so that downward movement is required to put them in place, andthey must be lifted up to remove them. In some racks, the shelf beamconnecters are permanently riveted in place so that adjustment cannot bemade. What is perhaps the greatest difficulty arises from shelf beamconnecters that exert torque on the uprights, tending to twist anddeform them, so that the rack may lean, or twist and even become topheavy and collapse.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION It has been found that a novel rack, utilizing anovel shelf beam connecter, can be provided which overcomes many of thedisadvantages of known racks. Such a novel rack may include a connectermember for engagement with a vertical member, a front wall on theconnecter member, an integral sidewall on the vertical edge of the frontwall, an integral slotted tongue on the front wall in generalparallelism with the sidewall, an integral offset finger on the frontwall, deflected toward the sidewall and a latch member engaged with thetongue.

A shelf beam connecter according to the invention may inelude aconnecter member having a front wall, an integral sidewall on a verticaledge of the front wall and an integral tongue on the front wall ingeneral parallelism to the sidewall, deflected toward the sidewall. Sucha shelf beam connecter is invertable so that each shelf can be set ateach of two different heights. The shelf beam connecter may be connectedand disconnected merely by horizontal movements to engagement anddisengagement with an upright. The shelf beam connecter exerts littletorque on an upright, but rather exerts a sheer stress, so that the rackdoes not twist'or lean. A novel auxiliary latch is pivotably engaged anddisengaged from a tongue on the connecter, with the result that, theshelf beam connecter is easily secured in place against disengagement,and may be easily unlatched for adjustment. Offset fingers engage theflange of the upright and prevent pivoting in the opposite direction, soa completely stable rack is provided.

DRAWINGS Referring now to the drawings in detail:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shelf beam rack, with one of the beamsinverted;

FIG. 2 is a left side perspective view of a shelf beam connecter;

FIG. 3 is a right side perspective view of the shelf beam connecter;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of a U-upright;

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of an I-upright;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view ofa latch;

FIG. 7 is an end elevational view of the latch;

FIG. 8 is an opposite side elevational view of the latch;

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of the shelf beam connecter engaged with anI-upright;

FIGS. 10 and 11 are perspective views showing the latch and a tongue,with an arrow indicating the direction of movement of the latch toengage with the tongue for pivotable latching;

FIG. 12 is a side elevational view showing the latch moved to latchingposition;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the latch engaged with the tongue, thearrow showing the direction of pivotable movement of the latch, forlatching;

FIG. 14 is a top plan view ofa .I-hook used to lock the connecter andupright together; and

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing the latch seated in latchingposition on the tongue.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings in detail, the rackutilizes an upright or vertical column 1 1 which may take severaldifferent forms, such as an I-beam 12 or a U-beam 13. A foot or pedestal14 is welded to the bottom of the column 11 to provide stability. Thecolumn is provided with slots 15 in the ,web 16. A slot 15 is positionedadjacent to each flange 1'97 on the web 16, for cooperative engagementwith a connecter.

The connecter 10 has a front wall 18. There is a first sidewall 19extending perpendicular and rearwardly on one vertical edge of the frontwall. On the opposite vertical edge of the front wall 18, there is ashort, perpendicular second sidewall 20, from which pairs of tongues 21extend in the same vertical plane as the second sidewall 20. Thesetongues 21, are cooperative with pairs of slots in the web 16, and enterthem and extend beyond the web. The front wall 18 is provided with twogroups of three intersecting cuts 22, which define fingers 23. Thefingers 23 are deflected inwardly from the front wall 18 to engage theflange l7, and this way provide stability, and prevent wavering androcking. A shelf beam 24 is welded to the connector 10. The shelf beam24 may be attached at the top of the sidewall 19, of the connector 10 bybeing welded thereto. The connector 10 may then be reversed, providing ahigh or a low position for the shelf beam 24, on either of which,objects maybe stored. It is to be noted that in either of these twopositions of the shelf beam assembly, the supporting strength of theshelf is equal. It is also to be noted that any vertical force exertedon the shelf beam does not unseat it. With the holes in the upright 11on 4 inch centers, the reversal of the shelf permits adjustment on2-inch centers.

For retaining the shelf beam connecter 19 in engagement with the upright11, the tongues 21 must be held against disengagement from web 16. Thisis accomplished by pivotable latch 25, that may be easily engaged ordisengaged from the tongues 21. Each tongue 21 has a slot 26 at itsouter end. The latch 25 is mounted pivotably in the slot 26 by beingpositioned on its side as shown in FIG. 10. The first side 27, on themain wall 28 has a cut which defines an inturned lug 29. This lug 29 ismoved into slot 26 as indicated by the arrow between FIGS. 10 and 11,and the latch 25 assumes the position shown in FIG. 13. The latch 25 ispivoted downwardly (note arrow in FIG. 12) so that its first side 9embraces the tongue 21, and the main wall 28 rests on the top of thetongue 21. The arcuate edges 30 will slide by the web and the latch willbe in abutment by its flat ends 31, with the web 16, preventing thetongue 21 from disengaging from the slots 15 in the web. By pivoting thelatch 25, and withdrawing the lug 29 from the slot 26, the tongue can bewithdrawn from the upright 11 to reposition the shelf beam 24 with thegreatest of ease.

A second means for latching the (.I-hook) connecter 10 to an upright 11is shown in FIG. 14. This means eliminates the necessity for a latch 25.A hole 3 is provided in the shelf beam 24, adjacent to the connector 10.A J -hook 33 is passed through the hole 3, so that the one end 34embraces the flange 17 of the upright l 1. A nut 35 is applied to theother end of the J-hook 33 and the shelf beam 24 is firmly locked place.While the .I-hook 33 is less convenient than the latch 25 in that awrench is required for adjusting the shelf beam 24, nevertheless it mayprove satisfactory where no adjustment of the level of the shelf beam isgoing to be required.

What is claimed is:

l. A rack comprising a. a vertical member,

b. a web on the vertical member,

c. a flange on the web,

d. a connecter member engageable with the vertical member,

e. a front wall on the connecter member in abutment with a vertical edgeof the flange,

f. an integral sidewall on a vertical edge of the front wall,

g. an integral slotted tongue on the front wall in general parallelismwith the sidewall,

h. an integral offset finger on the front wall, deflected toward thesidewall,

i. the sidewall positioned in abutment with the side of the flange onthe web,

j. the offset finger in abutment with the opposite side of the flange onthe web,

k. the tongue passed through a hole in the web;

1. a pivotable latch member engageable and disengageable with thetongue,

m. a main wall on the latch member,

n. an integral first sidewall on the main wall,

0. a portion of the first sidewall bent into general parallelism withthe main wall,

p. an integral second sidewall on the main wall opposite and generallyparallel with the first sidewall,

q. a portion of the second sidewall opposite to the bent portion, cutaway to allow the bent portion to be inserted into the slot of thetongue.

. A rack comprising a vertical member,

a web on the vertical member,

a flange on the web,

a connecter member engageable with the vertical member,

a front wall on the connecter member in abutment with a vertical edge ofthe flange,

an integral sidewall on a vertical edge of the front wall,

an integral slotted tongue on the front wall in general parallelism withthe sidewall, an integral offset finger on the front wall deflectedtoward the sidewall,

. the sidewall positioned in abutment with the side of the flange on theweb,

j. the end of the offset finger in abutment with the opposite side ofthe flange on the web,

k. the tongue passed through a hole in the web.

3. A rack according to claim 2 and further including a vertical memberengaged with the connecter member, a J-bolt with the vertical member atone end and the opposite end passed through the shelf beam securedthereto. 4. A rack comprising a. a connecter member for engagement witha vertical member, a front wall on the connecter member,

an integral sidewall on a vertical edge of the front wall, an integralslotted tongue on the front wall in general parallelism with thesidewall, an integral offset finger on the front wall, deflected towardthe sidewall, a latch member engaged with the tongue. A rack comprisinga connecter member for engagement with a vertical member, a front wallon the connecter member,

an integral sidewall on a vertical edge of the front wall,

an integral slotted tongue on the front wall in general parallelism withthe sidewall, e. an integral offset finger on the front wall, deflectedtoward the sidewall, f. a latch member engaged with the tongue, g. amain wall on the latch member,

h. an integral first sidewall on the main wall,

i. a portion of the first sidewall bent into general parallelism withthe main wall,

j. an integral second sidewall on the main wall opposite and generallyparallel with the first sidewall,

k. a portion of the second sidewall opposite to the bent portion, cutaway to allow the bent portion to be inserted into the slot of thetongue.

6. A shelf beam connecter comprising a. a connecter member having afront wall b. an integral sidewall on a vertical edge of the front wall,

c. an integral tongue on the front wall in general parallelism with thesidewall,

d. an integral offset finger on the front wall, deflected toward thesidewall.

7. The shelf beam connecter according to claim 6 and a shelf beamconnected thereto.

8. The shelf beam connecter according to claim 6 and a slot in thetongue.

9. The shelf beam connecter according to claim 7 and a slot in thetongue.

10. The shelf beam connecter according to claim 8 and a pivotable latchengaged with the slot.

1 1. A shelf beam connecter latch comprising a. a latch member having amain wall,

b. an integral first sidewall on the main wall,

c. a portion of the first sidewall bent into general parallelism withthe main wall,

d. an integral, second sidewall on the main wall opposite and generallyparallel with the first sidewall,

e. a portion of the second sidewall opposite to the bent portion cutaway to allow the bent portion to be inserted in a slot.

12. A shelf beam connecter latch comprising a. a connecter member havinga front wall,

b. an integral sidewall on a vertical edge of the frontwall,

c. an integral torque tongue on the front wall in general parallelismwith the sidewall,

d. an integral offset finger on the front wall, deflected toward thesidewall,

e. a slot in the tongue,

f. a latch member having a main wall,

g. an integral first sidewall on the main wall,

h. a portion of the first sidewall bent into general parallelism withthe main wall,

i. an integral second sidewall opposite and generally parallel with thefirst sidewall,

j. a portion of the second sidewall, opposite to the bent portion, cutaway to allow the bent'portion to be inserted in the slot in the tongue,i r

k. the bent portion ofthe first sidewall inserted into the slot in thetongue, x

l. the latch member pivotable on the bent portion in the slot, toposition its main wall, first and second sidewalls astride the tongue toblock the withdrawal of the tongue from the hole in a web.

13. A rack comprising:

a. a connecter member,

b. a front wall on the connecter member,

c. an integral sidewall on a vertical edge of the front wall,

d. at least one tongue on the front wall in general parallelism with thesidewall,

e. an integral offset finger on the front wall, deflected toward thesidewall,

f. the end of the integral, offset, deflected finger and the sidewalldefining between them a space to receive a flange of a vertical member,i

g. the tongue on the connecter positioned to be] passed through the webof a vertical member.

1. A rack comprising a. a vertical member, b. a web on the verticalmember, c. a flange on the web, d. a connecter member engageable withthe vertical member, e. a front wall on the connecter member in abutmentwith a vertical edge of the flange, f. an integral sidewall on avertical edge of the front wall, g. an integral slotted tongue on thefront wall in general parallelism with the sidewall, h. an integraloffset finger on the front wall, deflected toward the sidewall, i. thesidewall positioned in abutment with the side of the flange on the web,j. the offset finger in abutment with the opposite side of the flange onthe web, k. the tongue passed through a hole in the web; l. a pivotablelatch member engageable and disengageable with the tongue, m. a mainwall on the latch member, n. an integral first sidewall on the mainwall, o. a portion of the first sidewall bent into general parallelismwith the main wall, p. an integral second sidewall on the main wallopposite and generally parallel with the first sidewall, q. a portion ofthe second sidewall opposite to the bent portion, cut away to allow thebent portion to be inserted into the slot of the tongue.
 2. A rackcomprising a. a vertical member, b. a web on the vertical member, c. aflange on the web, d. a connecter member engageable with the verticalmember, e. a front wall on the connecter member in abutment with avertical edge of the flange, f. an integral sidewall on a vertical edgeof the front wall, g. an integral slotted tongue on the front wall ingeneral parallelism with the sidewall, h. an integral offset finger onthe front wall deflected toward the sidewall, i. the sidewall positionedin abutment with the side of the flange on the web, j. the end of theoffset finger in abutment with the opposite side of the flange on theweb, k. the tongue passed through a hole in the web.
 3. A rack accordingto claim 2 and further including a. a vertical member engaged with theconnecter member, b. a J-bolt with the vertical member at one end andthe opposite end passed through the shelf beam secured thereto.
 4. Arack comprising a. a connecter member for engagement with a verticalmember, b. a front wall on the connecter member, c. an integral sidewallon a vertical edge of the front wall, d. an integral slotted tongue onthe front wall in general parallelism with the sidewall, e. an integraloffset finger on the front wall, deflected toward the sidewall, f. alatch member engaged with the tongue.
 5. A rack comprising a. aconnecter member for engagement with a vertical member, b. a front wallon the connecter member, c. an integral sidewall on a vertical edge ofthe front wall, d. an integral slotted tongue on the front wall ingeneral parallelism with the sidewall, e. an integral offset finger onthe front wall, deflected toward the sidewall, f. a latch member engagedwith the tongue, g. a main wall on the latch member, h. an integralfirst sidewall on the main wall, i. a portion of the first sidewall bentinto general parallelism with the main wall, j. an integral secondsidewall on the main wall opposite and generally parallel with the firstsidewall, k. a portion of the second sidewall oppositE to the bentportion, cut away to allow the bent portion to be inserted into the slotof the tongue.
 6. A shelf beam connecter comprising a. a connectermember having a front wall b. an integral sidewall on a vertical edge ofthe front wall, c. an integral tongue on the front wall in generalparallelism with the sidewall, d. an integral offset finger on the frontwall, deflected toward the sidewall.
 7. The shelf beam connecteraccording to claim 6 and a shelf beam connected thereto.
 8. The shelfbeam connecter according to claim 6 and a slot in the tongue.
 9. Theshelf beam connecter according to claim 7 and a slot in the tongue. 10.The shelf beam connecter according to claim 8 and a pivotable latchengaged with the slot.
 11. A shelf beam connecter latch comprising a. alatch member having a main wall, b. an integral first sidewall on themain wall, c. a portion of the first sidewall bent into generalparallelism with the main wall, d. an integral, second sidewall on themain wall opposite and generally parallel with the first sidewall, e. aportion of the second sidewall opposite to the bent portion cut away toallow the bent portion to be inserted in a slot.
 12. A shelf beamconnecter latch comprising a. a connecter member having a front wall, b.an integral sidewall on a vertical edge of the front wall, c. anintegral torque tongue on the front wall in general parallelism with thesidewall, d. an integral offset finger on the front wall, deflectedtoward the sidewall, e. a slot in the tongue, f. a latch member having amain wall, g. an integral first sidewall on the main wall, h. a portionof the first sidewall bent into general parallelism with the main wall,i. an integral second sidewall opposite and generally parallel with thefirst sidewall, j. a portion of the second sidewall, opposite to thebent portion, cut away to allow the bent portion to be inserted in theslot in the tongue, k. the bent portion of the first sidewall insertedinto the slot in the tongue, l. the latch member pivotable on the bentportion in the slot, to position its main wall, first and secondsidewalls astride the tongue to block the withdrawal of the tongue fromthe hole in a web.
 13. A rack comprising: a. a connecter member, b. afront wall on the connecter member, c. an integral sidewall on avertical edge of the front wall, d. at least one tongue on the frontwall in general parallelism with the sidewall, e. an integral offsetfinger on the front wall, deflected toward the sidewall, f. the end ofthe integral, offset, deflected finger and the sidewall defining betweenthem a space to receive a flange of a vertical member, g. the tongue onthe connecter positioned to be passed through the web of a verticalmember.